Suspended
Account Action: 72 Hour Suspension
Reason for Action: Terms of Use Violation — Exploitative Activity: Abuse of the Economy
This suspension happened because one or more characters on the account were identified exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for “real-world” currency. This exchange process negatively impacts the World of Warcraft game environment by detracting from the value of the in-game economy.
Even if this behavior is the result of a third party accessing the account instead of the registered user (for example, a friend, family member, or leveling service) then the account can still be held responsible for the penalty because of the impact it had on the game environment.
We’ve found the above behavior is many times directly related to groups responsible for compromising World of Warcraft accounts; we take these issues very seriously. To better understand our position against exploitative activity and the risks involved, please review this article: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/basics/antigold.html
The exploitative activity that took place on this account violates the World of Warcraft Terms of Use. We ask you take a moment to review these terms at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html. Note that additional Terms of Use violations may result in more severe actions against this account, up to and including permanent closure.
For any disputes of this action, please visit the Exploitative Activity FAQ and Contact page here: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article/exploitfaq
Regards,
Blizzard Entertainment Support
Calm Like a Bomb
Last night was a solid night of raiding, in four hours we managed to clear up to Sindragosa and get in a couple of attempts. Feeling good, a few of us decided that since Jaraxxus was the weekly we should do an alt run through a 10 man ToGC, we were going for Insanity (we came very close actually). Even so, we managed it with a ragtag group that included my Elemental Shaman, Ghroth. I got a few upgrades and logged over to my main account to get the goodies gemmed and enchanted. While on my banker alt, I noticed someone selling stacks of epic gems (cheap). I made away with a stack of Cardinals, 2 stacks of Dreadstones, and an assortment of other gems and goods. The level one alt named Jinshao gave me the lot for about 10K, I figured good investment. There was a little haggling on those items that I wasn’t real keen on, I figured out pretty quickly “want sell quick, give good deal” so the Crusader Orbs and Epic patterns I got for about 200 lower than the original (already low) asking price.
Feeling good, I began processing the raw mats I got (a couple hundred stacks of Saronite Ore and 50 stacks of Titanium Ore for prospecting). I made a few stacks of Belt Buckles (none were in the AH so should’ve made some profit) after processing and listing my stock, I switched back to Ghroth to gem and enchant the stuff. By this time it was nearly four AM and I was beyond ready for bed…
Twenty Minutes Later
After a trip to the bathroom to get ready for bed, taking out my dog (one last time) and checking the lights in the house I heard a familiar beep. Apparently I’d left my speakers on, and I had mail. So I decided to check it before I went to sleep, that’s when I saw the above message from Blizzard…
Now, I’ve been getting a lot of fake phishing emails in the past, so I gave the email enough skepticism to verify my account status. I tried to log on, and found that my password had changed (curiouser and curiouser). So, I logged into battle.net and changed my password and verified that yes, my main account was indeed suspended. I’ve sent Blizzard an eMail concerning this and as I write this, I’m on hold with customer service… waiting for an answer.
In classic Blizzard fashion, they’ve not really given me an explanation as to what I’m accused of. They’ve simply suspended me and told me I’ve been found guilty of something. Judging by past experiences and anecdotal evidence, I don’t suspect I’ll ever know why I’ve been suspended. And if I ever DO get a meaningful explanation, it will likely be AFTER the suspension is up. My thoughts, a while back I gave out some gold to guild mates to help with Shadow’s Edge, etc. This I suppose could be a red flag, however I was giving gold to people in my own guild… it’s not like I was logging an AH alt and meeting random people in Org to give them gold…
The other thing, low level (probably asian) alt that I bought from late last night. Jinshao said a couple of times that he/she was in a hurry and needed to sell this stuff quick, and therefore willing to make a deal. At the time, I was just in “how much can I flip this for?” mode. But in light of what’s happened, I have to concede it’s possible this was a bunch of hacked goods, which gibes with (exchanging, or contributing to the exchange of, in-game property (items or gold) for “real-world” currency).
Of course, they may simply be running along the lines that most people do when they see someone with 70,000 gold (or more)… I must’ve bought it on eBay or something. Of course, there’s the worst case scenario, which is what I’m most concerned about right now… The possibility that my account was compromised. This was my first thought when I saw that the password had been changed, as far as I know when Blizzard suspends an account they don’t change the password. I do use an Authenticator, but after the recent news about the Man in the Middle scheme, I have to concede it’s possible someone got me.
The Long Short of It
Whether the guild wins or loses against Sindragosa Thursday, I won’t be there. And that pisses me off more than anything, more than missing out on a few days of wheeling and dealing, more than if I lost all of the gold I have. We’ve worked hard to get this far, and after last night’s raids I was on a high, fully expecting to down Sindy Thursday night. It’s a real punch in the gut. Anyhow, I should be back in this weekend (hopefully) and it looks like I can still play my Shaman so stay tuned, if there’s any new revelations you can be sure I’ll post about it here.
Wow, that’s a real kick in the nuts.
The part that gets me the most is they’ll figure out they made a mistake and you were innocent and you’ll get your account back in 72 hours.
And thats it…. no reimbursement of your time and nothing to make up for the fact you missed out on a big in-game event you were looking forward to.
The blizzard customer service is so messed up and acts as if you are “priviledged” to play their game.
Good luck on getting this all sorted out, I had a RL friend who was hacked and even though his account was restored after 2 weeks he ended up just quitting because the whole experience made him sour.
I don’t see how you could have had your account compromised by the (probably asian) bank alt which you bought all your goods from. Unless it is purely coincidence, the idea of trading for some goods, and then 15 minutes later you get hacked makes them seem all-powerful, not the just-trying-to-adapt-to-blizzards-banhammer that they actually appear to be.
I was hacked once. I made the stupid decision to log into my facebook account at a Mac store in San Francisco. Maybe the Mac had a keylogger (orly? mac am safest?) or maybe another patron/employee, after i left, saw my info sitting on the log-in screen (either way, my stupidity).
This is where they had to get crafty. The username itself for the facebook account was the same as my battlenet email account username, but the wrong extension (i.e. @aol, @yahoo, @gmail) That means they had to go to the Blizzard email tool (I didnt know they had this, and dont think they should) that allows users to receive a new password, so long as its the email address associated with the wow account. Basically exploiting the “I forgot my in-game password” function.
So after guessing all sorts of extentions, they got into my hotmail account and confirmed the new password and proceeded to loot my stuff. I actually had only recently started playing again (WotLK was out for maybe 3 months) and had a lvl 70, but was leveling with friends on a new server, but my lvl 70 is all they focused on, which had roughly 4k gold. I cant tell you, however, how pissed I was to lose my old pre BC items, my Untaimed Blade, my Destroyer of Worlds, etc. I ended up getting all my gear, items and gold back. And I’ve learned rom my mistake.
But I think in your case, you were the “contributor” as mentioned in the ban. The goods probably were stolen and/or hacked. They banned you simply as an accomplice to the crime, despite no il-intentions, or knowledge of being an accomplice of any crime in the first place. Blizz will probably pull some “you should have known better” BS, but likely just issued the ban to try and hold on to all parties involved and look into the situation.
You shouldn’t face any further punishment, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the goods you bought were taken away and your gold replenished to its previous amount.
Either way, good luck and I hope to hear more.
man that is a hard blow… Blizzard does seem to do some frivolous banning from time to time but man that seems real shitty on their part. I have heard of suspension for controlling the market in an extreme way but that does not sound like what you were doing. Best of Luck
They found out that he was selling himself on the corners of Dalaran to anyone with 5g and the will to cyber